Steam & Oak is the UK home of FinSteam, the Finnish manufacturer of the only CE-certified, electricity-free gas sauna heater in Europe. The 8.1 kW heater runs on a standard propane bottle, so there is no electrician, no dedicated circuit, no chimney and no ash. Turn the dial and it is sauna-ready in under 20 minutes (typical), for around £2 to £3 a session.
The technology is what makes it exciting. A wood or electric heater warms a sauna indirectly: it heats a large mass of stones first, and the stones slowly warm the air, which is why you wait 30 to 45 minutes and tend a fire. A FinSteam heater is flueless and heats directly, putting clean combustion heat and gentle water vapour straight into the cabin while the stones warm for löyly. Nothing is stored first and nothing is lost up a chimney. FinSteam call this Direct Thermal Flow™, and it is why the numbers surprise people: an independent, FINAS-accredited Finnish laboratory measured wood-fired heaters delivering only 57 to 72 per cent of their nameplate output, with 28 to 43 per cent of the heat going straight up the flue. A FinSteam heater has no flue, so virtually all of its heat stays in the sauna. The combustion vapour also means the room starts with a pleasant natural humidity rather than harsh dry heat, which FinSteam call Humidity Balance™, and heat, moisture, thermal storage, airflow and ventilation are designed together as one coordinated system, Sauna Climate Engineering™. Safety is engineered in, not bolted on: an oxygen depletion sensor shuts the gas off automatically if oxygen falls, flame supervision cuts it the instant the flame is lost, and the bottle always stays outside. The heater is EU type-examined under the Gas Appliance Regulation (2016/426) and independently tested by Applus+ Laboratories.
For glamping sites, holiday lets and any UK outdoor hospitality business, this removes the biggest barrier to offering a sauna: power. If a propane bottle can reach the pitch, a genuine Finnish sauna can too. There is no groundwork, no cable run, no Part P sign-off, and it keeps working through a British winter and a power cut, which makes it a natural way to extend your season into the colder months when guests want heat most. For Airbnb and holiday-let hosts there is a simpler pleasure: guests pay for the gas bottle, not your electricity bill.
The range covers every scale of operation. Complete insulated sauna tent packages start at £2,495, with everything included: tent, certified heater, stones, UK gas kit and safety guide. Hire companies can build a mobile fleet around them, because the whole setup packs down and moves. At the top of the range, the NOIR Dome is the UK’s only twin-heater, 12-person gas sauna. Its burners replace lost hot air the moment the door opens, so it holds temperature through back-to-back sessions, and its 12-month warranty explicitly covers commercial use.
The same heater also moves between structures, so one purchase can run a tent by the lake in summer and a fixed cabin sauna in winter. Steam & Oak supplies and installs garden saunas, and converts existing saunas to gas: a tired wood-fired stove or a dead electric element in a barrel or cabin sauna can be replaced by a certified FinSteam heater with no rewiring and no chimney.
Alongside the saunas, Steam & Oak offers ice baths, holiday-let compliant hot tubs and wood-fired hot tubs, and holds more options than the website shows, so bring your site plans and tell us what you are trying to build. The team reviews layouts, ventilation and gas questions with visitors free of charge.
The gas sauna tent will be set up and running on the stand for all three days of the show. Step inside, feel the heat, and judge it for yourself.